Comment
Base Motives All
The chances however look slim, for not only is it true that nothing fails like failure, a story that ends with long prison sentences for the would-have-been heroes does not fit into the mould of the dare-devil Israeli exploits.
This was no Entebbe Raid except of course that if the human cargo had been delivered to the External Affairs Ministry in Lagos, the exploit would have been ranked in the Entebbe and Eichmann league, and as Barak is said to have asked his interrogators when asked about why he recruited Israelis, the question would have been reinforced: "Do you know any better?"
The strictly financial motivation of the kidnappers as amply demonstrated by a daring attempt to extract money from the kidnapped Dikko by holding out freedom to him if he will better their contract, hardly fits in with the role of universal policemen that Barak and Abitbol tried to cast themselves.
Doubtless, Israel has gone to great extents in the past to bring to justice people who have committed crimes against Israel and against the Jewish people, they have recently shown the extent to which they will go to bring out any Jew seen by them to be in danger, dramatised recently again by the case of the Falashas.
But then there is the hapless Dr Lev-Arie Shapiro, who said, and the judge and prosecutor agreed with him, that he believed he was working for the interest of his country, and everybody knows the fierce loyalty to Israel exhibited by the Jews who make it to the Promised Land.
Since the kidnap did not end as planned it would have been surprising if the Israelis had admitted official involvement. The potential rewards for Israel would have been tremendous. Oil from Nigeria and maybe the greatest prize of all, the restoration of diplomatic relations with Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. That is the kind of prize that is difficult to imagine, Israel would have turned its back on..
Be it the desire to serve Israel or the hope of financial gain, the participation of Israelis in an escapade that involved the flagrant violation of every rule in the book does not enhance the image of a beleagured Israel threatened with terrorism on all sides.
There are many Africans who sincerely believe that the time has come for African countries to restore diplomatic relations with Israel on the grounds that the original break was in sympathy with Egypt and since that country itself now has relations with Israel the reason for continuing with the break no longer exists. There are some others who believe that the Arab nations have not done enough, if anything, to compensate for the advantages that accrue from having relations with Israel and that on a purely hard-nosed practical basis, relations with Israel should be restored.
Israel is constantly pointing out that they constitute the only democratic state in a middle eastern sea of dictatorships and unrepresentative governments. One would imagine that Israel would want to plead its case through conventional, legal means and would want to encourage and befriend African nations that try to pursue democratic forms of government. Thus far the track record of Israeli attempts to break the diplomatic deadlock in Africa has shown that Israel has picked some of the most notorious governments on the continent to launch the onslaught, making it difficult to accept that Israel believes it has a valid and honourable case. The attempt to seek back-door solutions for Israel's problems with Africa will succeed in only weakening the case for Israel and handicap those who would plead Israel's case.
In this case, it ought to have worried the self-appointed policemen from Israel that Nigeria has not been willing to put those politicians inside Nigeria before open courts. A nation that prides itself on its own open society and democratic institutions, surely ought to worry about how its chosen friends conduct their affairs.
They might have wanted to make sure for themselves the real motives behind the Federal Military Government's great yearning for Umaru Dikko.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Umaru Dikko might have been a very powerful man in the overthrown administration, but until the coup occurred, in popular belief, he was not seen as the wealthiest. Even among those that are described in Nigeria now as fugitives, he was not known as the wealthiest. It has not been lost on observers that those among the 'fugitives' who have written to the Federal Military Government pledging their support, or who have taken advertising space in the Nigerian media to laud the soldiers and disclaim any contact with Dikko have been largely left alone both by the media and the Nigerian authorities. Not one word has been heard about their alleged crimes which filled the papers in the first few days after the coup.
It is obvious that Dikko's monumental crime is that he dared to challenge the military authorities and that he refused to fit into the mould of acquiescence to the soldiers that is normal after every coup. That affront to their egos and the refusal to plead with them is what has so enraged the military authorities in Lagos. That is why they are so anxious to be seen to have defeated Dikko, it is dissent that they cannot take.
The unfortunate part is that, possibly the FMG have ironically succeeded far more as a result of the kidnap attempt, for by making him afraid for his life, they have indeed silenced him.
The next move will undoubtedly come from Lagos.
